Aug312008am

The timer for 10 minutes, a trick to remind her to check the children. When the timer sounded 10 minutes later, she went to check where the children were playing. Jay was gone. The two older children hadn’t noticed that he had somehow disappeared. Six and ½ acres of lawn and woods surrounded their Bedford, Virginia home. But Patsy’s first concern was the four lane highway near the home, so she raced there. She did not see little Jay.Trying to stifle fears of kidnapping, she first called the state police. Then she called the Bedford County Sheriff’s office. Within 30 minutes, patrol cars, rescue trucks, and a hundred people had gathered on her lawn to help with the search. By 9 oclock that night, a helicopter and a pair of bloodhounds had both proved ineffective. When her husband arrived at 11 pm, hundreds of volunteers were involved in the fruitless search, walking hand in hand through the woods. Some had been cut by briars; some had fallen down in exhaustion. The temperature was down to 65 degrees. But the volunteers continued their search in the bramble and briar laden area, thinking of the barefooted little boy wearing only shorts and a T shirt.Only one possibility remained. A slight grey headed woman was summoned with an air scenting German shepherd. At 4:30 am, the dog picked up the scent, ran up a mountainside, and barked wildly. When rescuers reached the dog, it was licking little Jay, whose bleeding feet were caught in briars. At the bottom of the mountain, a sea of people cheered with joy. A little lost boy was found. But the greatest joy was that of Patsy Wheat. There is joy in finding one who is lost. (Redbook, May 1985, 24, 260).

Warm afternoon in Sept 1982 Patsy Wheat left her 2 year old son Jay playing in the carport with his 8 year old sister and 5 year old brother. Her husband Harold, a long distance trucker, wasn’t due home until later that night. She set

Look at Lk 15: 1 – “Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him.” If one thing sticks out about the ministry of Jesus, it is that his attractiveness to the abhorrent, repulsive, despised, and branded of his age. Notice there are 2 different groups: tax collectors and sinners. Tax collectors – most despised Jew of them all. Roman Empire did not collect their own taxes --- sold franchises for tax collectors & considered by fellow Jews as traitors of country --- blasphemous and unpatriotic. Sinners – not just those who committed sins, but certain occupations – shepherds, tanners, and people who could not keep the commandments of the Pharisees (10 Commandments divided into 613 commandments)Shock value of these people coming to Jesus …association with them…Imagine to our church --- people from state penitentiary, out on bond from jail --- affluent con men, extortionists, rip off artists, drug dealers, slum landlords, tattoo artists, call girls come to worship with us & the uppity ups refuse to come to our church…rejected because of those kind of people…people who consider themselves the guardians of purity & godliness…murmured about those people…That is situation around Jesus. Do you feel near to Jesus or far away? Are there situations in your home or life or work that alienates you from Jesus? God? Jesus’ ministry appeals to the lost, separated, alienated…Tennessee William’s family moved to a city during the famous playwrite’s childhood where he and his younger sister wanted to join a church’s children’s choir. Because of their less than perfect social situation, they were made to feel inferior and untouchables. He never went back to church. What would have happened if his talent had been used for God and the church rather than the world? Jesus is looking for the lost and the lost gather to him when he is around.

Luke 19:10 – “The Son of Man came to seek and save that which is lost.” It is almost like Jesus had invisible chains to attract lost people. He drew the lost to himself. It was like Jesus had a magnet to attract them to himself.

If a peasant woman would turn her house upside down to find a lost coin, should HE not turn the social world, the acceptable way of doing things upside down to find the lost, those who have gone away?What did Jesus mean by calling things lost? He gives a word picture: sheep are lost through heedlessness – leaves flock, not on purpose or willfully. Stone that falls, or snake that crawls, or a gap in a pasture fence may frighten the sheep or beckon a sheep away from the flock. The shepherd, either not paying attention or asleep, or stupid, doesn’t pay attention. Then he counts the sheep before going to sleep at night, and finds 99. He counts again and again…sure enough, 1 is missing. Everyone there knows a Hebrew shepherd would go to get the 1 missing, lost sheep.Understand God seeks those who leave the flock, on their own choice, out of ignorance, out of stupidity, or carelessness. Teenager experiments with drugs, one time; married person flirts with passion and give in to the unexpected lust. A debt ridden employee takes money from the till, expecting to pay it back. Such people are heedless, ignorant like sheep – but Jesus seeks them anyway. A coin, is lost through carelessness – through no fault of its own. This is a Greek drachma = Roman denarius, wage for one days wage = 1/10 of what woman had. Meant more to her than that…maybe one of the circlet of 10 coins women wore in that day as part of her marriage dowry. Beauty of ornament was marred by the loss of 1 coin. 52% Americans claim go to church every week. What about 50% never go? Children never hear? No fault of own. Bible stories? Spiritual truth? See value of 1 in God’s eyes?Six billion people on earth…planet is speck in Milky Way, 100,000 light years across. One of 10 billion other galaxies. Largest known object is galaxy 3C 236 in Leo Minor, which is 18.6 million light years across. Question? Can you really believe God can care for just 1 human? Jesus says that God is happy! Rejoices! With just one lost man/woman coming to Christ…Heaven throws a party.

The Pharisees and scribes felt Jesus was doing wrong and sinning by associating with the lost…He did not argue with them, but reasoned with them using common sense. He argued from the lesser to the greater. Wouldn’t they leave the flock to go and find one lost sheep?

Search…But the search is his PASSION! The story of the lost coin recalls the thoroughness of the search…The woman lived in a typical Jewish house with no windows and a low door. Her home was so dark, she had to light a candle for the search even during the daytime. She used a broom to brush the coin out from under the bed or a chair or table. She hopes to hear the tinkle against the barren floor. She turned the house upside down. Furniture was turned upside down, dust stirred up and the house is in a mess. For two days in Oct 1987, the whole world was seized by the drama of the “one” in Texas. An Iranian missile hit and American flagged tanker and the Dow Jones index plummeted, the whole nation was focused on one little girl. Americal learned again that the small things and life of one little girl mattered more than anything else. We watched the monumental efforts of men try to rescue the 18 month little Jessica McClure, who had dropped 22 feet through an 8 inch opening in an oil pipeline. Drilling experts, highway construction equipment, pneumatic drills, special air vents, high pressure hydraulic drills and herculean effort were expended during the 58 hours she was trapped underground. Rescuers tried everything to save the one little girl. … She could not save herself, she had to let another come to her and rescue her. What a party when that EMT pulled carried her up and out of that hole. This is a lesson for us to learn, that those who leave are always welcome back home. There will be a party in heaven and in this church, should you come back today. Just before Christmas 1986, six masterpieces by Edouard Vuillard were torn from their frames in a Paris museum. Been there since 1913. Worth 3 million then. Found following Feb, prompting great joy in art world…Eph 2:10 says you are a masterpiece..God intends your life to be masterpiece…lost and looking for you.

Rescue requires thoroughness. Shepheard searches for one sheep that is lost, he does not abandon the 99. He leaves them safe in the pen, with an under shepherd. Shepherds passion is to find the 1 lost sheep. Remember the shepherd stands for God..God does not leave his own found ones to make the